CABLE ONE REACHES AGREEMENT WITH NBC UNIVERSAL
January 7, 2015 – Phoenix,AZ — Cable ONE announced today that it has reached an agreement with NBC Universal to continue carriage of NBC Universal channels CNBC, MSNBC, USA, SyFy, Sprout, Bravo, Oxygen, NBC Sports, Telemundo, and Mun2.
"We've been in negotiations with NBC Universal for the past several weeks and we’re pleased to be able to continue carriage of this network for our customers,” said Cable ONE CEO Tom Might. “We regret that NBC Universal felt compelled to launch a negative ad campaign to upset our customers and try to gain leverage during these negotiations. We negotiate dozens of contracts every year and most are resolved amicably, behind closed doors.”
Might went on to say, “Unfortunately, most cable and broadcast networks in the past few years have decided to raise the cost of their programming by astonishing amounts as they renegotiate new multi-year contracts with cable companies, at a time when viewership of their networks is declining at a rapid pace. This puts cable companies like Cable ONE in the very difficult position of passing through their large rate increases to our customers for networks they are probably viewing less and some not at all. Many network groups, including NBC Universal, are demanding twice the monthly fees that we have paid in the prior year as well as the launch of obscure new networks that we prefer not to carry and our customers prefer not to pay for. Our choice is to either agree to these demands or lose the entire family of networks.”
“We think the current video subscription model, which offers no choice to cable operators or cable customers is obsolete, particularly at a time when so many good video alternatives are evolving over the internet – which Cable ONE wholeheartedly supports. Despite current government regulations and the all-or-nothing attitude of the networks that have created this no-win situation, we will continue to work on behalf of our customers with industry representatives and lawmakers to overhaul the anti-consumer practices plaguing the cable industry.”
About Cable ONE
Serving more than 720,000 customers in 19 states with high speed internet, cable television, and telephone service, Cable ONE provides consumers a wide range of the latest products and services, including wireless Internet service, High-Definition programming, and phone service with free, unlimited long distance calling in the continental U.S.
CONTACT:
Trish Niemann, Cable ONE Public Relations Director
602.364.6372
patricia.niemann@cableone.biz